DailyKaizen

I thought today I would tell a story about a Lean experience I had outside of the workplace for a change.  I was a great experience given the circumstances even though I wish it would never have happened.  Yesterday, I was munching down an apple for lunch when I felt something hard in my apple.  I looked at it closely and I found a whole bunch of small pieces of metal.  Running down to the bathroom I confirmed my greatest fear: two of my fillings had fallen out and there was a giant hole in my two of my teeth.

So I picked up the phone and called my dentist hoping that I might get in sometime in the next couple of weeks.  I was really surprised when the receptionist actually remembered who I was.  I must confess, I have a pretty bad phobia of going to the dentist and have not been very proactive with my oral care over the last couple of years.  I was even more surprised when she told me that there was an opening first thing this morning.  I asked her if somebody had cancelled and she said no and that they always hold a certain number of spots per day for emergencies. 

Arriving this morning I checked in at the front desk where I was handed a sheet with all of my insurance and personal information already filled out.  My job was to simply confirm that it was accurate.  The office was very busy, but I did’nt even get a chance to sit down when I was met by the dentist who asked me how I was doing and how my new house was holding up.  I have no idea how he remembered that I just got a new home.  He took look at my tooth, let me know that things were on time, the work I required was not complex, and that I would be out the door within thirty minutes.  Five minutes later I was in his chair and he was explaining in very clear terms why my tooth had broken and how to prevent it from happening again. 

I walked out of the office twenty minutes later with the least amount of anxiousity that I have ever had leaving a dentists office.  As I drove to work all I could think about was if we could only take when my dentist did for me today and replicate it across all healthcare organizations.   What if we could:

• Accurately understand demand and plan accordingly
• Be responsive to the pull of our patients
• Not waste any time of anyone we serve
• Take a big office and make it have small office feel
• Standardize the product we deliver, but customize the experience to make people feel comfortable and cared for

I may go to the dentist more often.

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